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We are currently playing with the HTCThunderbolt‘s “device showcase” application that just hit the Android Market courtesy of our friends at Verizon, and for the first time are starting to feel like we are just days away from actually owning one. (Hypebeastin‘!) Now, I know that the release of this device has become a complete mess, but seriously, this is a good sign. Why exactly? Well because they plan to install this onto employee phones and demo units of the TBolt, so that they can show the features off to potential customers. This may not be a date, but it’s one of those items on the launch date check-off list that can now be crossed off.

Speaking of features, Skype with video is no where to be found in any of the demos included in this app. There are mentions of video chatting across the globe, but the term “Skype” is absent the entire time. It’s starting to look like an open-ended time frame, just like we reported on back in February. The fact that Skype is still missing from the VZW 4G site is also not helping the situation. Yikes.

And moving back on to good news! One of our connects over at Big Red informed us that certain areas were asked to “demo out” 4G SIM cards and submit the SIM IDs to be activated for Thunderbolt demo units today. And when I say “today”, I mean that this task was to be completed by the end of the day. Not tomorrow. They also mentioned that when asked to perform this similar task for 4G mobile broadband cards, that they had product within a week. Fun times.

OK, enough Tbolt talk for one day. That should feed the trolls for the night. You were getting hungry, weren’t you?

what’s funny is that TB was once compared to iPhone 4 by Kellex, what like 2 months ago? and yet still has no street date release! LOL! also want to add that battery issue does not only exist on TB, but on most of Android devices and i speak from experience, being the original droid owner.

I am so ready for iPhone 5, a device that’s all about quality rather than quantity of what it can or can’t do!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IDGUZI4TI22VNIG3QKXSKDQWVM Chris

what’s funny is that TB was once compared to iPhone 4 by Kellex, what like 2 months ago? and yet still has no street date release! LOL! also want to add that battery issue does not only exist on TB, but on most of Android devices and i speak from experience, being the original droid owner.

I am so ready for iPhone 5, a device that’s all about quality rather than quantity of what it can or can’t do!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IDGUZI4TI22VNIG3QKXSKDQWVM Chris

what’s funny is that TB was once compared to iPhone 4 by Kellex, what like 2 months ago? and yet still has no street date release! LOL! also want to add that battery issue does not only exist on TB, but on most of Android devices and i speak from experience, being the original droid owner.

I am so ready for iPhone 5, a device that’s all about quality rather than quantity of what it can or can’t do!

Alpkirk

I just got off the phone with VZW customer service – spoke with someone in Colorado Springs. He tells me that VZW will have the phones on April 6th – and that Best Buy will have exclusive on sales until that time. He says that some of the BB stores already have the Thunderbolts in stock and are selling them right now – he spoke of at least one store in his area that was selling Thunderbolts to customers. He says if I do some footwork, I should be able to find a store here in FL that has them today and can buy one. Not sure if I should believe him, but it came directly from a VZW rep, not from Best Buy this time…

Tim242

That’s bs. No announcement yet.

Alpkirk

I’m wondering if someone else called if they would get the same info or something different.

Alpkirk

I’m on the phone with Best Buy corporate right now, and they are calling the Colorado Springs store directly to see if they are selling the phones – the VZW rep told me they were selling them there. If they aren’t then he is not being truthful. He also told me that those with the unlimited data plan will be able to keep that at the same price on the 4G network – perhaps that is a lie too.

Alpkirk

And the answer is… VZW rep is full of it… Best Buy told me that they DO have the phones released to them (since the 28th) but that VZW will not let them sell the TBolt until their other new products have been released first – XOOM, and iPad2 to be specific. They still have not been given a date by VZW as to when they can actually sell the Tbolts, but they DO have them, and are waiting for a GO from VZW.

http://twitter.com/vblok0910 Chris Vitorino

After the Thunerbolt releases the Verizon CEO,CFO and what ever C’s are left that have any type of power in that company should be FIRED!!! The only company they belong running is Amp’d Mobile!!! ” And yes I know that company is out of business”

Sandswoodward

Screw HTC im going to wait for the Bionic. Sick of the games.

Tim242

If you think this has anything to do with htc…I won’t finish that statement.

KSChris

Boy, there sure is a lot of snarky complaining and negativity about this phone now, just because of some delays. Negativity against Verizon, I understand.. at the end of the day, though, there’s nothing wrong with the phone that people shouldn’t have expected anyway.

The battery life has never been good for HTC phones, and it sounds like they fixed the 3G/4G issues that were plaguing it.

The phone’s specs are no different today than they were in January when it was announced and everyone was drooling over it.

I think everyone’s bitterness at how the release was/is handled has made them turn on the phone, when all that anger should really be directed at Verizon.

Either way, smartphones don’t have a very long shelf life anyway. Regardless of whether this has last year’s specs in it or not, any phone you get will be outdated within a year at the rate of growth in the market. The 4G speeds should makeup for any deficiances the Thunderbolt has in the spec department, though. The 4.3″ screen as well.

John Smith

Why does anyone care about this stupid device? It has a 1ghz processor, 768mb ram and two cameras. That’s last year’s technology. Who cares whether or not it has 4g? Is this phone really going to last 2 years? I’m thinking if you waste your money now, you’re going to regret waiting and getting a dual-core phone which can be used as a laptop as well.

Tim242

So, what else would you add to make it this year’s technologjy? A second screen? A 3D screen? A worthless second core? Give me a break!

KSChris

Exactly. Everyone so hung up on the dual core thing, when it’s basically worthless right now. Come to me in a year when that technology is actually worth something.

FortitudineVincimus

what a waste of time to make such an app that has a limited lifespan

they should have put the time into improving the My Verizon app or their Visual Voice Mail app

Brendan

The bad thing about Verizon is that even if you want to upgrade they wont sell it to you unless you are a new customer which is a bad move because they could potentially lose customers

Slyonefoya

That’s incorrect. They got rid of the New Every Two in that you don’t get any money back when you get a new phone. You are still able to upgrade every two years, and just pay the new customer price, in this case $299.

Jrer34

I’m sure it will get pulled and we will all be back to where we were yesterday. i have zero faith in the possibility of this phone coming out soon. i need a new phone for work pretty badly and im lucky that they arent getting on my case about not having one yet. its just constant back and forth with them teasing all of us with this kind of stuff.

Pete

I don’t understand the hype for Skype. Where’s the push for a widespread Google Talk update with video chat – why couldn’t it take advantage of front-facing cameras just like it does in Honeycomb? Plus, it’s already out and available, right? Why aren’t they pushing out a massive GTalk update that would eclipse Facetime and Skype video chat instantly?

Anonymous

Possibly because skype is multiplatform and I can see Verizon coming up with a commercial showing someone on a TB video chatting with someone on a IP4

Pete

Sure, but GTalk is cross platform, too. I use it on my Droid to text with my wife on her Blackberry. And I’m pretty sure there’s Google Talk clients for iPhone, too. They’ve already got a platform messaging service in GTalk, and a videochat version for tablets. Seems like if they rolled that functionality out to all platforms that supported that, too, they’d have a leapfrog on current the mobile video chat situation.

http://twitter.com/binglut9 Brian

They got it on the computer to u use gtalk with my brother all the time with his Mac and my xoom

That has been out for several weeks. Do they really think people will use that? Ha

Anonymous

but I want to pay for services when I can easily and legally get better ones for free!

Jrer34

I dont understand why anyone would get the VZ Navigator. Can you not just use Google Maps on verizon or something? i am waiting for this phone to come out so i can switch. My G1 broke a little over 2 months ago and putting my SIM card in a prepaid phone to hold me over until this comes out has been extremely depressing.

RaptorOO7

One step closer to the door. Hopefully it is next week, but why do it on St. Patrick’s day, don’t they know that is a day for drinking all day.

Anonymous

Because you’d have to be drunk to buy the TBolt for $300 after this debacle.

scadole

I think after all the BS written about this device, I think you can go ahead and say the $300 price tag is probably not true either.

http://twitter.com/Gnodmena Gino DiMenna

No.. You need to be on TIger Blood to even think about buying this thing!! lol

Tripple M

Very good :))))

mmmmm TBolt

Thank you for the update, Kellex.

Anonymous

It says that the thunderbolt has a high definition 4.3 inch thouch screen. Is it really hd?

http://twitter.com/binglut9 Brian

No

http://www.discounttoyotaparts.net/ Toyota camryhybrid parts

A marketing goof earlier and now this. Sounds like another smooth over from Big Red to steal the negative spotlight and turn everything around.

Anonymous

So as soon as I read the title a huge lighting bolt hit 4 houses down my street. Scared the crap out of me.

Dodgesityballer

Pwnage lmao!

DanSke

My thoughts on the matter:

Ahh. Another carrot on a string to blindly chase. I’m amazed at the timing. A marketing goof earlier and now this. Sounds like another smooth over from Big Red to steal the negative spotlight and turn everything around. To little too late? Maybe, maybe not? I think its all up to how much longer they delay this thing. If it goes pass CTIA, March 18-22, I would declare this phone dead in the water. No one will want it when they see the shiny new products for summer mere months away.

http://twitter.com/JerrryLange Jerry lange

I love how it tells you not to download this, its inteded for instore use. haha wtf

Tim242

That app screws with my brightness and keeps opening up. I watched the demos and uninstalled.

DanSke

The Thunderbolt contains to much power for your device! You’re lucky it didn’t blow a fuse. haha

Anonymous

It’ll only blow the fuse if it’s a moto… for those that remember the so called Fuse that the DX? had/has… lol

Tim242

I am so loving the turquoise/aqua blue highlights! I got a Droid X, but returned it and kept the Incredible. That was just too much red for me. Plus, I love me some HTC.

chilster

The screens in the market is different than what is displayed here. The market screen shows “Skype mobile video chat”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Dustin-Carney/1004713533 Dustin Carney

so i called verizon tonight about my grams phone that broke and they sent her a lg cosmos, and he said you have a upgrade and i told him im saving it for the thunderbolt and he said ah yes the phone that never gets a release date, haha

Hollywoodradford

ive been considering iPhone so I hope this is good news cuz I’ve been patiently waiting and I want it as of Feb 24th let’s go

Giveup

So the Guy who runs “DROID LIFE” wont even use a “Droid” branded phone.lol…that makes sense…KELLEX IS A HYPEBEAST LOSER!!!

Briguy503

I am so ready for this phone, I would wait for the Bionic but I promised my sis that I would sell her my X when the next good android phone came out. Also looking forward to trying some sense, hear a lot of talk about it.

Alvinm 77

Sense blows Blur away.

Donnydon

The phones not coming till the 24th so um whats the big news?

Briguy503

Do you work for Verizon? If so you must sit pretty high among their top brass to know for sure.

http://twitter.com/bandroidx bandroid

lol that app looks like someone spent 25 minutes in eclipse making it with copy and paste.

Anonymous

Eclipse + MS Paint = AWESOME KILLER HYPEBEAST APP!

Hoot352

News about the thunderbolt will continually be posted on sites like this until the phone finally makes an appearance. It’s still news. I don’t know why people complain about getting updates when that’s all they are. Is it really that hard to scroll down past the posts you don’t care to look at? If so, you might need to take a break from the net as it’s got a tight hold on you.

Alvinm 77

Im excited!!!! Ready for my Thunderbolt and to toss my DX.

Jawshua

457,354th post about the Thunderbolt! You’d think with all the talk about this damn phone on here, it performed fellatio while shooting out lines of coke! Seriously it’s not gonna be that awesome! The Bionic and the twelve hundred phones after, this month, will be just as good. Do they pay you by the post to trek us about the Thunderbolt? This is worse than beating the dead horse to death, you’ve gone ahead and ran it through a combine, liquefied it in a blender, drank it and then peed it out into a volcano!

U Mad?

HAHAHAAH this dude bought an iPhone and is mad!! Rofl

http://twitter.com/jbernard703 Jeff Bernard

He’s not the only one buying an iPhone. Pretty sad when a 8 month old phone is outselling every Android phone on the market.

Tim242

The iphone is not outselling any Android phone. It broke a first day sales record, then that was it. It is not selling well. A simple Google search of “Verizon iphone sales” will tell you all you need to know.

Michael Scrip

Should Apple have waited until summer to go to Verizon? Or should they have just skipped Verizon altogether and stayed only on AT&T?

The iPhone is on up to 5 carriers in other countries… why wouldn’t they go to another carrier in America?

Apple will be selling cell phones for the rest of our lives. And they will now be selling them on Verizon too.

You keep going on and on about how bad Verizon iPhone sales are. Would they have been better on Sprint or T-Mobile?

People are still buying the AT&T iPhone 4. They are now buying them on Verizon.

There is no yardstick to measure how good or bad the Verizon iPhone will do. If Verizon was a bad choice… Apple wouldn’t have gone there at all.

Let’s let this game play out a lil, k?

Tim242

It’s not that Verizon is a bad choice. It was bad timing, that’s for sure.
But, iphone popularity has simmered down. Android is quite popular now.
iphone market share went from 22-24%….Android went from 9-31%.

Michael Scrip

— “Android is quite popular now. Android went from 9-31%”

That’s true. All the phones that run Google’s Android OS have 31% of the market.

But Apple, the manufacturer of only 3 phones, has 24% of the market. That’s not too shabby if you think about it.

If there are 9 Android phones sitting on the shelf… and only 1 iPhone… statistically more Android phones will sell. That’s completely understandable and kinda out of Apple’s control.

And that’s what Google’s Android is… a multi-manufacturer solution to get their software on as many phones as possible. It’s a completely different business than Apple… a hardware manufacturer.

You can keep comparing a free, open-source OS to the iPhone. Apple has thought about it… and they are staying the course.

Tim242

You miss the point. iphone got its market share before Android was around.
Since then, it’s pretty stagnant. Btw, there are now 11 iphones, 6 still for
sale.

Michael Scrip

Apple sold an average of 180,000 iPhones every day last quarter. Other manufacturers would KILL for that. The iPhone’s growth may be stagnant compared to phones running Google’s Android OS… but Apple has no trouble moving plenty of units every single day. The day Apple sells exactly ZERO iPhones… find me and we can talk.

If Apple wanted marketshare… the would pull a Google and license iOS. But that’s not what they do, is it? Apple is a hardware manufacturer… Google is an advertising company.

Oops… there are 6 iPhones… my bad. How many phones are running Android?

Tim242

If Apple wasn’t worried about Android and market share, there wouldn’t be a
$49 iphone, they wouldn’t be getting ready to launch prepaid and cheap
iphones, and Jobs wouldn’t be making jabs at Android every chance he gets.
He didn’t learn his lesson before, why would he now? The real question is,
if you are so confident in apple, why are you visiting Android sites?

MIAtrix

Who says you can’t follow both Apple and Android devices? Being confident in what Apple does is mutually exclusive of having an interest in Android. And it is basic business strategy to look for ways to improve/maintain your marketshare. I think you entirely missed his point. He is telling you to compare Apple as a HARDWARE manufacturer to the likes of the android devices of Motorola, HTC, LG, Samsung etc. all separately. Yes, android devices as a whole are gaining marketshare (more at the expense of Blackberry than iPhone if I’m not mistaken). But Apple as a hardware manufacturer is certainly doing well. You don’t have to be a fan of Apple OR Android to see that.

Tim242

The iphone’s hardware is made up of Samsung and LG parts. So, their hardware
gain is also the gain of Android OEM’s. When you are comparing OS’s, you
don’t seperate by manufacturer. Android is also gaining from ios. In the
last year, ios went from 22-24%…Android 9-31%. As far as apple hardware
and profit, you have to realize a lot of that comes from computer and ipod
sales. But, nobody wants to seperate that.

http://twitter.com/binglut9 Brian

Yea everyone forges that this also includes I pads, I pods, and everything else that has ios on it is included not just iPhones so they need to get facts straight

Michael Scrip

— “If you are so confident in Apple, why are you visiting Android sites?”

I’m confident that Google’s free, open-source OS won’t put the iPhone out of business… just like the $299 netbook didn’t put the Mac out of business.

— “If Apple wasn’t worried about Android and market share, there wouldn’t be a $49 iPhone”

And how many $49 phones running Google’s Android OS are there?

Tim242

You totally missed the point. They are selling $49 iphones for the same
reason they are about to sell cheaper iphones and prepaid iphones…they are
worried about Android and market share.

I’m sure Apple would love to have the #1 spot in marketshare. Who wouldn’t?

But Apple was never #1… Nokia and Blackberry were “beating” them before.. and now Android is.

It’s a neat thing to say “we have the most market share”… it’s another to have a tiny fraction of the market share and make more money than all of your competitors combined.

Tim242

They’re not making that money from phone sales. They are making it from
over-priced computers and the app store. Google doesn’t sell computers or
phones. Apple and Google both make 30% from app store sales. The difference
is Apple is an OEM, Google isn’t. On profit levels, Apple and Google aren’t
comparable, because they are not the same types of companies. Then you have
the fact that Android is on every carrier and OEM. Apple could do the same,
if they so chose. Market share is the only way to measure and compare.
Android OEM’s don’t get the 30% app fees. Google doesn’t get phone sales.
What you are doing is trying to compare apples and oranges…which just
can’t be done fairly. Apple can change their business practices that limit
them, Google cannot. Google just makes the OS and takes app fees.

Michael Scrip

Apple makes very little, in the grand scheme of things, from apps and music. A person would have to purchase 300 apps before Apple made a significant amount of income from apps. Oh they’re not losing money with the App Store… but it’s far from being the lion’s share of their profit.

Apple profits an average of $300 from each iPhone… and they sold 16 million of them last quarter. Now compare that to their profit from the App Store. It’s a pennies to dollars comparison. Apple is a hardware company… and they always will be. Apps help sell iPhones and iPads… just like music helps sell iPods.

— ”Apple is an OEM, Google isn’t. On profit levels, Apple and Google aren’t
comparable, because they are not the same types of companies.”

I never said you can compare Google to Apple. But that’s what happens when people keep saying “Android is beating the iPhone!!!”

You’ve heard me say here… and on Engadget… that it doesn’t make sense to lump all of “Android” together to compare to the iPhone.

If you wanna compare something… let’s compare sales of HTC’s phones to the iPhone… or Motorola’s phones to the iPhone. But comparing “Android” (dozens of phones from many manufacturers) to just the iPhone… that’s kinda silly. The same is true for the term “iPhone Killer”… that’s just as ridiculous.

I would hope, for Google’s sake, that they have the ability to get their Android OS into the hands of so many people. How could they not? Android is everywhere!

You’re right in that Android went from 9% to 31% last year. With so many Android phones out there… that’s not really a surprise. But… they won’t go from 31% to 53% this year.

But again… I’m not on “Team Market Share”… there are plenty of more interesting things to talk about

Tim242

As I said, it is fair to compare all Android phones to all of the iphones.
That’s OS vs OS. iOS could be on multiple manufacturers as well. When you
are talking anout comparing just two companies, that is comparing OEM’s, not
OS. HTC isn’t selling computers, music, or apps. HTC has competition. When
Apple puts iOS on phones other than their own, then you can compare them
against just one other OEM. It’s easy to sell more of one phone, when you
limit competition.

Tim242

As I said, it is fair to compare all Android phones to all of the iphones.
That’s OS vs OS. iOS could be on multiple manufacturers as well. When you
are talking anout comparing just two companies, that is comparing OEM’s, not
OS. HTC isn’t selling computers, music, or apps. HTC has competition. When
Apple puts iOS on phones other than their own, then you can compare them
against just one other OEM. It’s easy to sell more of one phone, when you
limit competition.

Michael Scrip

— “As I said, it is fair to compare all Android phones to all of the iPhones. That’s OS vs OS.”

Well… if you’re gonna compare OS to OS… then there’s not much else to say on the matter.

The ratio will always be 10 different phones running Android to every 1 iPhone running iOS.

It’s still possible to compare OEM vs OEM… and even phone vs phone.

You better believe when the Thunderbolt launches… people are gonna be talking about their sales numbers. Some people might compare it to iPhone sales…. but most people will compare it to Atrix and Bionic sales numbers.

And that’s an understandable comparison. HTC and Motorola are fierce competitors… even thought they both play on “Team Android.” Won’t it be fun to compare Thunderbolt vs Bionic sales numbers?

If, for some reason, the Bionic sucks… you can blame Motorola, the OEM. You can’t just give it a pass because it’s running Android… and cite other stellar Android phones instead. It doesn’t work like that.

And that’s why I don’t think you can compare entire platforms against each other. There are plenty of junky Android phones out there… doesn’t the Motorola Citrus work against Android?

Tim242

You cannot compare any one Android phones sales to the iphone. Most people
buying iphones would not buy an Android phone. They want ios. Put ios on
more phones, then the iphone itself won’t sell as well. Android sales are
spread out among several phones. If 10 people walked into a Verizon store
today wanting Android, they have several choices. Let’s say 4 buy a Droid X.
4 buy a Droid Incredible, and 2 buy a Droid 2. Now, 10 people walk in
wanting ios, the iphone is their only choice. Don’t act like if HTC had a 4″
screen ios device with access to all apple svcs, it wouldn’t sell. It would.
So, out of 20 sales today, Apple sold 10, Moto sold 6, HTC sold 4. This is
why you can’t compare by OEM. People are buying by OS and features. Put ios
on more handsets, giving people more choice, then that one model would no
longer sell so many units. If the Evo, Incredible, or Droid X was the only
phone running Android, it would be outselling the iphone. But, luckily, that
is not the case. I am on the side of the consumer. Choice is better than
Apple lining its pockets : )

http://twitter.com/binglut9 Brian

They include I pods, ipads, etc anything with ios not just iPhones get facts straight

Tim242

In the last year.

Alvinm 77

Are you full yet????? If you don’t know what I mean, read the last paragraph in this blog.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Gregory-Poe/1126894244 Gregory Poe

Well, this is the first 4G phone for Verizon, so it’s a pretty big deal. In the same way, there are going to be a lot of honeycomb tablets, but the xoom was first and it had a lot of hype

Blcklie

I can’t wait until we can end the Thunderbolt news and start rolling with the Bionic news all over the places..

Anonymous

Hypebeastin’ the BIONIC. Nice.

Anonymous

Thunder.what? Bring on the Bionic!

Anonymous

Boy do I appreciate the Hypebeastin’ with this post. Awesome. Finally a late night on forums/blogs worthwhile!

Anonymous

VZW: Making NASA look good at predicting launch dates.

I truly believe VZW should skip CES next year. I was excited about the Thunderbolt during and shortly after CES. Now it seems like last year’s model at next year’s price. If I was hearing about it for the first time now, I might think differently if I could get past the “EVO clone” reflex… In any case, I’m standing by for another delay, and happy that we’ll see it all unfold here.

Thanks for HypeBestin’ it. I’m all excited now. I almost have some hope restored!

Cdunnenterprise

Downloaded. I’m such a punk.

http://blackbluegold.wordpress.com/ Philip

Nothing works on any of the tabs.

Cdunnenterprise

Reboot, it’s working on my Droid X

Anonymous

First and does that mean the Thunderbolt is right around the corner ??? lol

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